Pacific Rim Discussion *spoilers*

[Dosvidonya]

Amazed to see all the love for Pacific Rim here. This site has been pretty hard on spotty movies in the past.

This was perhaps my most anticipated film of the year. I was geeking out like a 12 year old kid at all the monsters and robots I was going to see.

With the exception of a few admittedly slick fight scenes, it was a bad movie. Teetering on being a godawful movie. And not in the "so bad it's good, glorious cheese" way. In a tedious, paint by numbers, shitty acting, shitty scripting, dubious directing way. The characters range from flimsy to insulting, the dialogue is groan inducing...even the music was bad. Outside of the film's visual flair and interesting creature/robot design there was virtually NOTHING to praise here.

The extremely well choreographed fight scenes, the stunning camera and art design, the amazing soundtrack, the expertise in which they built up the world, the generally great acting, the plot that while simple is decidedly lacking in plot holes, the generally upbeat atmosphere and feel in an era where seemingly every action movie borders on mean spiritedness, and finally the fact that we got an original piece of work made by a director who poured his heart and soul into a movie that celebrates a genre that he obviously loved and respected and beyond did it justice. Those are a couple of things I can praise.

The movie is awesome. It might not be your cup of tea, you might be into smarter more intricate movies, but calling it awful is just plain wrong. This sort of movie really only needed to do certain things to make it good, but Del Toro went above and beyond when it came to its development and made a damn good movie because of it.

 

[Dryk]

This was one of my first problems with the movie. I really enjoyed it but damn has humanity become so much dumber in the future. We know the instant a Kaiju appears but don't have defenses in that area? Mines? Big-ass guns that start shelling them immediately? Nope, build a robot to punch them in the face. It's like Pacific Rim shares a timeline with Idiocracy. I'm pretty sure if the Kaiju had balls, the Jaegers would have been designed to specifically kick them in the balls.

The first thing they did after coming through was swim away and it took six days of conventional arms fire and 3 nukes to kill the very first one. Trying to defend the breach would be like gluing tacks your houses threshold. Someone will step on them... and then just keep walking.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

...the amazing soundtrack, the expertise in which they built up the world, the generally great acting, the plot that while simple is decidedly lacking in plot holes, the generally upbeat atmosphere and feel in an era where seemingly every action movie borders on mean spiritedness, and finally the fact that we got an original piece of work made by a director who poured his heart and soul into a movie that celebrates a genre that he obviously loved and respected and beyond did it justice.

Holy crap what movie were you watching? I want to get tickets to it straight off.

Alas, I blew the movie-watching budget on "Pacific Rim". =P

The movie is awesome. It might not be your cup of tea, you might be into smarter more intricate movies, but calling it awful is just plain wrong.

Well it can't be wrong or right, as it's entirely subjective. The sad thing is the film IS my cup of tea. Giant Robots? Giant Monsters? del Toro directing? It's not just my cup of tea, the cup has my name written right on it. It's not that I'm a fussy sophisticate who went expecting to see "A Room With a View" and came away horrified. I went expecting to see a competently executed film, and came away sorely disappointed.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

My only complaint about that movie is that the Russians and the Chinese SUCKED. We get this build up about how the Russians have been fighting for years and have taken down tons of the monsters. We're told that the Chinese have an attack that only they can do and that it's incredible. These are star players here. So when they finally get to fight, we're expecting some serious action.

And they both get taken out by the same Kaiju. Yes, I know that the second one technically finished off the Russians, but that acid blast from the first one took them out of the fight. They were done. And neither crew managed to even take out one of the Kaiju. Or even wound it. G.D. had to take them both down. That bothered me to no end.

What I believe should have happened was that only one of the Jeagers got taken out in that fight. The Russians or the Chinese, I don't care which. Anyway, after said crew is killed, the other Jaeger manages to at least wound the first Kaiju before the EMP goes off and cripples both remaining mechs. In comes G.D. and awesome fight follows.

That way, in the final battle underwater, you could have another mech. That's where the second crew should have died.

 

[Bertylicious]

Right, so, here's the thing:

Kaiju movies, Godzilla, Mothra, that sort of thing, are basically professional wrestling with giant monsters. That is why they are awesome. All they lack is 2 blokes with American accents providing commentary:

"...and Rhodan has climbed the Turnbuckle plaza and is squaring off against Godzilla! Phil, do you think the King of Monsters is at a sizable disadvantage occupying the lower ground?"

"Oh, without a doubt Tom. You remember in the match between Megaguiras and- OH MY GOD! Rhodan has accelerated to super sonic speeds and slashed Godzilla right in the face! Godzilla is BLEEDING!"

"That's incredible! Godzilla is bleeding, he looks stunned, Rhodan is coming around again and OH! Godzilla has been pummelled through Peach Blossom gated community and is lying in a mound of rubble. This is not looking good, I don't see how he can come back from this."

"Rhodan is not letting up! Godziila is getting pounded so hard that he is literrally entombed in the twisted ruin of downtown Kyoto! This is it! Godizilla's reign as King of the Monsters is over!"

"Tom, you need to hold off on the eulogy because Godzilla is up!"

"Oh my God! How has he found the strength? IT'S THE ATOMIC BREATH! Rhodan has been annihalated! What a turnaround Phil!"

So yeah, Pacific Rim delivered everything that could and should have been expected of it. 10 out 10.

 

[Dosvidonya]

Holy crap what movie were you watching? I want to get tickets to it straight off.

Alas, I blew the movie-watching budget on "Pacific Rim". =P

Well it can't be wrong or right, as it's entirely subjective. The sad thing is the film IS my cup of tea. Giant Robots? Giant Monsters? del Toro directing? It's not just my cup of tea, the cup has my name written right on it. It's not that I'm a fussy sophisticate who went expecting to see "A Room With a View" and came away horrified. I went expecting to see a competently executed film, and came away sorely disappointed.

The Soundtrack was written by the same guy who does the soundtrack for Game of Thrones. Also did it for Iron Man and currently the Pacific Rim soundtrack is gaining critical praise and acclaim.

The acting was great, the main guy was kind of shaky at times but overall everyone did a really good job. They're portraying archetypes, so yes they are familiar to most everyone but archetypes aren't inherently bad, only when they are used blandly, and in this movie every character seemed to go through a convincing and believable arc that lead to most everyone having a satisfying conclusion.

The story is simple but it's not stupid and also doesn't treat the audience like idiots. It establishes its world early on and then puts you into the events. It was well paced and had no plot holes that damaged the story. I actually challenge you to find a plot hole because I'm more than sure whatever you think is wrong gets addressed in the movie.

And finally, there was nothing "paint by the numbers" about this movie. The easy thing to do would be to ask you to name another "Giant Robot vs Giant Monster Movie" and be done with it but really there's no need. This is an original piece of work made by a director who adored this type of genre growing up and wanted to, and did, do it absolute justice. The direction was fantastic and Del Toro made a movie that he wanted to make with pretty much no studio interference. This movie was a huge risk.

Everyone has the right to voice their opinion but when someone says that there was "NOTHING praise worthy" that's taking a personal opinion and turning it into an objective statement... which is fine but you best be prepared for some sort of discussion/argument especially on a forum. And you have a point, I don't know what your types of film are... but this one clearly wasn't it, which is also fine.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

To me, this film was an excellent example of Setup/Payoff. It's second pretty much only to Hot Fuzz in that regard. Everything in the film has a callback, and it's really satisfying to see. Even with Chuck the Aussie douchebag, there is a subtle hint as to why he hates Becket. Before Raleigh explains that he was working on the sea wall, Chuck was quite friendly with him, knowing about his impressive kill record. But once Raleigh revealed he had been working on the wall, it pissed Chuck off.

Why? Because the day before, that same goddamn wall just got smashed and he had to kill the damn Kaiju before it wrecked Sydney. He's rightfully pissed to see a guy who was one of the greats working on a shit project that he just saw fail with his own eyes a day earlier. It gives him some motivation for being a prick, and he works as a parallel for the overconfident Raleigh of the past.